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An iPad Keyboard You Can Type On and Swipe Through
TechCrunch features an article (the first of three, actually) outlining the development of a clever hardware keyboard for the iPad. It's hard to write about Kickstarter projects, because there are so many cool ideas that seem to deserve funding it's simply overwhelming. The TouchFire keyboard is one of those cool ideas, too, but it's far surpassed the founders' original funding goals and is nearing production. The TouchFire isn't wired, but it isn't wireless, either, in the conventional sense, because it provides no signal of its own: it's a transparent overlay that provides a tactile interface to the iPad's on-screen keyboard, and — the tricky part — is thin enough to actually swipe through when you're not using it for text-entry. The keyboard takes advantage of the iPad 2's built-in magnets for stability, though it works with the original iPad, too. (Hopefully an Android version will come soon, but the variety of screen resolutions and on-screen keyboard shapes makes that harder.) I talked with co-creator Steve Isaac (it's his account at TechCrunch, too) a few weeks back, and he said that the hardest part of the development work has been producing the complex mold shapes that form each collapsible key. The resulting tablet-with-keyboard reminds me superficially, and pleasantly, of the TRS-80 Model 100. (The Tandy actually had much better battery life than an iPad, but could do far less. It also weighed 3.1 pounds and cost more than a thousand dollars in 1983, which means nearly $2400 today; such is progress.) Prototypes are tight (and I don't have an iPad), but I hope to give an in-person report on the TouchFire soon.
I had a transistor radio that had much better battery life than the iPad.
It was able to do much less yeah, but you'd think for $500 the iPad would beat a $5 radio.
I know tablets are popular, but I don't have one yet because I type faster on real keyboards.
Good idea, but I wonder if this button design provides a enough tacticle feedback.
...an inelegant solution to a problem that doesn't exist. I can already type very fast on my on-screen keyboard without the need for silly tactile gadgets, and haptic feedback exists for the folks who aren't able to do so.
I just don't see the need for a device that covers half the screen, making it hard to see or read what's beneath; I might as well leave the on-screen keyboard up all the time and lose half of my screen real-estate. Also I don't care what the article says, I do not believe that swipe entry will be as usable through this layer. Nor will it work if I rotate my screen.
the tricky part â" is thin enough to actually swipe through when you're not using it for text-entry.
From TFA:
TouchFire is soft and supple if you swipe through it horizontally, so you can easily select the special characters on the keyboard.
I didn't read anything about swiping when you were not using the keyboard for text entry.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
This is one of those add-ons that on the surface seems clever and useful, until you realize that it would be more of a hassle to use when you need it than if you didn't have it in the first place. Disregarding the fact that putting this on your iPad completely ruins the aesthetic (really? We want our iPad to look like a Tandy?), one would be pulling the keyboard on and off every minute or so. This annoyance is compounded by the fact that the iPad interface is not built around a physical keyboard. So you use this to write a simple email, then you have to rip it off when the screen changes.oh thats annoying. Crapgadget.
It amazes me how much crap people will tack on to justify buying a tablet. iPad 2 STARTS at $499, plus all these accessories, and what you've really built yourself is a shitty netbook at twice the price...
and in between those uses its easy to move away. If it makes typing on my iPad easier then its worth it. The problem I faced was having a BT keyboard to make using the device for input easier.
Considering the size this is far better solution if it truly does mitigate the issue some have with typing. Yes, I am a "backer". I have bought a few items from the Kickstarter groups, more aimed towards whimsical than this.
Still haven't figured out if all those that do get funding actually pay themselves a decent rate for their hours. For some projects it really seems that they skip over that part.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
It's called TouchFire but it's for the iPad, not the Kindle Fire.
Epic Product Name Fail.
I love how people buy all these hundreds of dollars worth in accessories for their iPad (or what have you) - tactile keyboard, cover jacket that doubles as a stand, extra speakers, a dock for the desktop and a jacket for extra battery life, etc etc. When they probably could have spent less than half that and just got a laptop if that's really what they wanted to begin with. But no, let me just buy into the hype and get an iPad that I have no real use for (not saying there aren't uses) then duct tape stuff onto it until it becomes usable. Ever since the first iPad came out people have been trying to turn tablets into laptops. I'd suggest if they care that much they should get an ASUS Transformer or similar, or hmm, maybe a laptop?
Also please note I'm not putting down tablets, they're very cool, I have the aforementioned ASUS offering and love it. But I also have a laptop, and I imagine many of these folks do as well if they can afford to throw away cash on pretty toys. Even business users would probably be better served by a Fujitsu or Lenovo convertible. Oh well.
People create these gadgets to actually change the way Apple meant it's devices to work. So that means that Apple has not made people change their ways, people are still trying to bend the device to some other utility that does not exist.
That's like the guy who wrote the article that working full time with his IPAD wrtiting articles works fine for him BUT, he added an external keyboard and a huge display and still uses another MAC laptop 20% of the time to do the rest.
Please, please, do not compare,, NO ONE USES THE IPAD EXCLUSIVELY unless it's their only device, i dont know many people who does.
The 100 was a portable writing tool that has yet to be equaled. It was the mechanics of the thing. Typing on one was a joy. Add to that the perfect instant-on and the ruggedness and it's no wonder that many writers held onto them long, long after they were obsolete. Some people still use and love them. I have one and only the lack of easy data transfer to other devices or the network prevents me from using it as my primary writing hardware.
I would happily pay the price of an iPad for a new 100 that ran just enough linux for me to get into vi. I'd happily accept the 8-line monochrome lcd. The only required bit of modernity would be a couple of current ports. For a huge upgrade, give it the Enable software suite, a wonderful office suite that did 99% of everything that most users need, all accessed via an arrow-to-do-everything interface that was fast, fast, fast. (Oh, wait, Enable was bought and killed off by..who was it?)
If this screen overlay thingie is anywhere close to producing a modern version of the 100, I'll buy one and predict surprisingly brisk sales. Somehow, I doubt that's how things will work out.
It looks like someone used a keyboard outline and made some finger jello.
Everyone has to remember the iPad was created to Consume Media not make it. So why do you need a keyboard? You want your 500$ device do more than what it was designed to do? You should have gotten a real computer that does that already.
Go a head and mod me. The truth hurts, doesn't it?
I sticky piece of rubber wont make me buy a tablet either.
Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
Did I miss the part where this is non-profit or a charity? Why are people donating money to someones business plan?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA
Why bother trying to re-invent the wheel?
The Tandy actually had much better battery life than an iPad, but could do far less.
In what possible way could a 30 year old computer with an 80C85 processor and 32 Kilobits of RAM and an 240x64 non-backlit LCD display be a meaningful comparison to any modern computer? Of course it needed less power. That's like comparing a Model T to a Bugatti Veyron.
News For Timothy, Stuff That Matters (To Timothy)
I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
I got a folding pleather case for my iPad 1 on clearance for $5. It functions as a stand, too. Bluetooth keyboards aren't hard to find on clearance, either, but I happened to get one of the Apple ones from work when they rolled out Macs with better USB keyboards.
A spare battery hasn't been necessary, even when traveling & watching movies the battery really lasts. I don't charge it more than once every couple of days and it gets used quite a bit.
Outside of that, I haven't found much of a need for anything else. Even the keyboard is kind of more headache than it's worth, except when traveling.
The only other accessory I wish worked with it is a bluetooth mouse, and only then for using RDP sessions, and only then probably when traveling and needing to interact with a PC intensively. Apple's decided not to support this, but even if they did I already own a BT mouse.
They buy it because it is a shiny new toy and they want it. They have no reason for it, they just want it. However rather than just admit and accept that they want a toy, they then have to try and justify it by attempting to make it useful. So they turn it in to a laptop.
That is why I don't own a tablet: I have a laptop and smartphone and I cannot think of a single thing I would use a tablet for that I wouldn't rather use one of those for. I'm not saying I can't think of any use, just not any use for me.
You and I will walk down the street. You have your netbook, I'll have an iPad. Then we'll time who can check their stocks and email, or pull up the local map for directions the quickest. Perhaps we'll watch some videos. Heck, perhaps we'll sit side by side on the couch instead of walking down the street. You can put the netbook on your lap and see how much fun that is.
Of course there's little or no hope of the netbook actually competing because it's not a mobile device. It's a stationary one that is light enough to carry from one fixed location to another, and there's a huge difference.
I swear you netbook-fixated iPad haters just don't have a clue what a tablet is about, and you're just so intent on not learning. It's the worst kind of ignorance - defiant and purposeful.
Since I bought my iPad my Asus netbook has languished on the shelf. The only time I use it is when I have to do extensive note-taking. I'm getting pretty good at using the iPad keyboard, so I just might sell the netbook.
With this you can touch type while holding your tablet? They should research their target market audience's appendages better.
It's hard to write about Kickstarter projects, because there are so many cool ideas that seem to deserve funding it's simply overwhelming. The TouchFire keyboard is one of those cool ideas, too, but it's far surpassed the founders' original funding goals and is nearing production.
I've been very interested in a kickstarter project for the last six months, one I didn't know about until the deadline passed.. It reached almost 300% of it's funding level, started production, and...nothing.
They have an official website, and it never seemed to change. It was always "Sign up for the mailing list; we'll let you know when we've completed the kickstarter orders and can take orders from the public!" I had no idea when and if they were ever actually going to put out a product I could buy; I've already bought a conventional model in that time.
I finally noticed today that they were updating their kickstarter page; they've been posting their progress in detail and expect to take public orders next month. I just wasn't looking there because I didn't get in on the kickstart and did I mention they have an official website?
Sometimes kickstarter is awesome; sometimes it's an intolerable pain in the ass to be someone's guinea pig in the transition from garage engineer to functional company.
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A particularly shitty one, too.
I use it for doing email or reading (webpages or books) while I'm on my couch or anywhere that's not my desk. I'll also use it at my desk to do a web search or respond to emails, if I'm doing something else at the same time on my computer. It is excellent for watching movies (the battery life is amazing, much better than any laptop) or playing games, navigating, going on Facebook, or any number of other things. As long as I'm not working, the iPad is where it's at. And even when I am working, it helps out. It's certainly not just a shiny toy.
That sound, it's not thunder, or a train. That's Steve rolling around in his grave. If he wanted the device to have a keyboard he would have included it at some point in the design. But he really wanted to eliminate all the other "accessory" pieces on computers. I highly doubt he would appreciate a former MS guy mucking with that. That being said, will I get one? Yes I probably would because I can appreciate a novel idea to a slightly bothersome issue. But the price point has to be pretty low. I wouldn't spend more than $10 on something like this. Then I can throw in in a bag and forget about it until I have a longer trip and I don't want to carry a full laptop due to size, stress, or fear of damage/theft. (Just to note it's much easier to conceal an ipad, but if someone is determined enough they could still take it.)
"Texas"...well..."I've never seen that movie"...exactly!
It's an interesting thought, but I would be concerned that the OS may get a revision and move the key placements slightly and screw it all up.
It's surprising that everybody running around claiming the "death of the computer" are working so hard to make their *pads into virtual laptops. Of course, as common sense would suggest, using "tablets" for reading and typing is pretty difficult. Hence, all of the products that hold the tablets in a position like a laptop, with keyboards in front of the screen (like a laptop). For the same price as one of the gadgets (without the accessories), I'm using a full fledged 17" laptop with an i5, 6 GB RAM, and a 800 GB HD.
I don't respond to AC's.
For all the hassle, it seems it would just be more simple to use a BT keyboard. I've used the Zagg BT one and it is pretty slick, even doubles as a cover, which makes it a cinch to transport with the ipad.
I don't think they even need the "entire keyboard repeated in physical form" at all. I imagine typists would only need a thin strip that flips onto the home row to give an initial grounding to the iPad's key spacing. You could probably get away with just flip-on "nipples" for the F and J keys.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
You know /. has gone full retard when it's linking to articles on TechCrunch. Never thought I would see the day...
Gets a little warm in my lap sometime. I've developed a plug min-fan to cool it off. Every iPad should have one!
Is the issue with the lack of tactile keyboard, or the use of real-estate (screen space), or both?
I've seen tablets/phones that come with a folding carry-case that also has a slim keyboard in it. In some cases it's a bluetooth keyboard, in others it uses the USB connector.
It seems a better solution that having to slap a keyboard on your screen.
Me (English): "I swear you netbook-fixated iPad haters just don't have a clue what a tablet is about..."
You (English as a second language): "So you are telling me that everybody who "hates" iPads have a fixation on netbooks and hate the tablet formfactor."
No. I was specifically addressing that subset of iPad haters that are netbook-fixated, and placing the original poster in that group.
I had the Japanese equivilent, the NEC 8201. It was my first computer, bought with my summer job money when I was in high school. I took that with me everywhere, typing in programs from monthly Japanese computer magazines (learning programming and how to read Japanese at the same time).
I still have my 8201, but it doesn't boot up any more. I wish I understood hardware, because I'd really like to let my kids get a feel for what computing was like 28 years ago.